Aiden (Tim Pocock, who suggests an Aussie Dylan O'Brien) gets up in the morning, does his pushups, downs a raw egg Rocky-style, irons his clothes, listens to a YouTuber pontificate about the power of the penis, and leaves for his first day as a queer undercover cop in Sydney's inner east.
He prepares to do things by the book until pink-haired partner Steele (Sacha Horler), daughter of the former chief, pushes him to cut loose. He starts by cozying up to Cody (Tom Rodgers), a cute, drug-addicted sex worker, landing in a trap set by his drug lord drag queen "daddy" (Paul Capsis).
Aiden feels torn between cop, club, and loose-cannon hottie until one blood-spattered night forces his hand. Body Blow has the look and feel of an '80s, neon-lit, NC-17 erotic thriller. RIYL: Gun Crazy, Love Lies Bleeding, Pillion.
Body Blow plays Thurs, May 14, 9:30pm at SIFF Downtown and Sun, May 17, 2:15pm at the Uptown.
VALENTINA
(Tattijani Ribeiro, 2025, USA, 84 minutes)
Tatti Ribeiro's lively, funny tribute to community presents a day-in-the-life look at a twentysomething migrant worker.
After crossing from Juarez to El Paso, Valentina (Abbott Elementary's Keyla Monterroso Mejia and her amazing laugh) starts out with $80.13–and three parking tickets. To earn her keep, she takes any under-the-table job she can find, but while engaging in a historical reenactment, her car gets towed, and she needs $280 to get it back. She sells plasma, pawns a family heirloom, and testifies against onerous traffic violation fees at a city council meeting.
An on-screen counter tracks her financial gains and losses, while family members (Juan Carlos and Nathan Monterroso) and other migrants offer support. Ribeiro places the charismatic Mejia in real situations with real people, and inter-cuts newsreel footage about the migrant experience. Props to Jessica Alba for exec producing. Also: don't leave during the end credits!
Click here for 2026 Dispatch #1, here for #2, here for #3, and here for #4.
Valentina plays Thurs, May 14, 5:30pm at the Uptown and Fri, May 15, at SIFF Film Center. Co-writer/director Tatti Ribeiro scheduled to attend.
RADIOHEART: THE DRIVE AND TIMES OF DJ KEVIN COLE (Peter Hilgendorf and Andrew Franks, USA, 2026, 83 minutes)
And there goes the last DJ Who plays what he wants to play --Tom Petty, "The Last DJ" (2002)
I've been listening to Kevin Cole on KEXP since he first hit the airwaves.
Before that, I was involved with the station as a disc jockey, promotions director, music director, and host of the jazz show, Straight No Chaser--though not all at the same time. Our tenures did not overlap, though I've run into him a few times over the years. Radio people always find each other in the end, even if I've been out of the game for years, and he's still in it.
As you can probably tell, the profile of a DJ and director of programming from a station I've been listening to since I moved to Seattle in 1988 is bound to hit home, particularly one with which I was once associated.
Left: me in the KCMU offices with Rachel Crick from Sony, Mike D from the Beastie Boys, and other DJs
A decade later, after gigs at Cellophane Square and Microsoft, I got a job at Amazon, and who was in my orientation group--though we worked in different departments--but Kevin Cole. His reputation as a mover and shaker at Minneapolis's Rev 105 preceded him, and I knew exactly who he was. Consequently, I wasn't completely surprised when he segued to KEXP.
Which brings me to RADIOHEART: The Drive and Times of DJ Kevin Cole, Pete Hilgendorf's first full-length foray into filmmaking alongside Andrew Franks, an experienced director, editor, and cinematographer (I've also met Pete, and even wrote about a few of the bands he signed in his label days).
They begin at the beginning with a look at Kevin's life and career in Minneapolis, and they've lined up some heavy hitters: Bob Mould, Jimmy Jam, Kristin Hersh, Twin/Tone co-founder Peter Jesperson--you name it.
Like many of us who moved into commercial radio, Kevin started out as a college radio DJ and record store worker, and when he got the chance to spin records at First Avenue in the fall of 1978, he took it, but it was trial by fire for a self-described rock guy hired to make people dance, so he started by playing disco before incorporating punk, post-punk, and other styles.
His goal, then and now, was to play music by every kind of recording artist for the benefit of every kind of listener, which applied to the varied acts that played the downtown club, like homegrown superstar Prince who was so taken with his sets that he hired Kevin to work the decks at his private parties.
Kevin has mentioned this often on KEXP, and why not. As DJ bragging rights go, it doesn't get much better. (For what it's worth, I sang backup in a one-shot band, put together by my dad's softball buddies, that opened for Prince at San Francisco's Castro Street Fair, circa 1981's Controversy.)
In his more humble record store days, Kevin hit it off with music aficionado Shawn Stewart (below), who stuck by him even while he was overindulging in cocaine and amphetamines to keep up his breakneck pace, but he would get clean in 1988 and stay clean, and they've been together ever since.
In 1994, Kevin left First Ave to found Rev 105–short for Revolution Radio–and his career as a radio innovator was born. He hired Shawn, among other "relatable, accessible" talents (those of you in Seattle may also remember her from The Mountain and KIRO), but three years later, it was over.
Long story short: radio is a tough business. Though I left of my own volition after working at five different stations in Alaska and Washington, I don't miss the behind-the-scenes machinations and corporate shenanigans, even if I miss the playing-music part.
After Rev 105 came to an end, Kevin and Shawn relocated to Seattle where he helped to launch Amazon's music store. Though this might seem like a sellout move, and kind of was, it allowed him to make a new start. He was joined by other music veterans, like writer/publisher Mike McGonigal of Maggot Brain--surely the last person I would describe as a sellout--and both would go on to less mainstream ventures in the years to come.
Most significantly, in Kevin's case: listener-powered KCMU 90.3 FM. I started volunteering a year after Tom Mara, who would become the station's executive director before retiring in 2022, but I left six years before Kevin came aboard. In 1988, DJs weren't paid. Nor were program, promotions, production, or music directors. That had changed by the time Kevin arrived.
He helped the station to become KEXP, a pioneer in the streaming space that now spans the globe (personally, I consult the real-time playlist often). He also contributed to the realization of remote broadcasts from far-flung locales, among other innovations. The high-tech Seattle Center broadcaster of today has little in common with the low-tech UW one of the past.
Though RADIOHEART is a film about music, it's also a film about hair! After experimenting with a few different styles, Kevin settled on his current long-haired look, which is as much a part of his identity as his comforting voice. The only difference now is the gray, but it's fun to watch the evolution.
And it seems likely that his t-shirt collection is nearly as robust as his record collection, which reminded me of Robert Christgau's music and book shelves in Matty Wishnow's documentary, The Last Critic (no Seattle dates yet, so I'm thankful I was able to catch a screening in Olympia). The two films would make for a good double bill, especially in Seattle and Minneapolis.
Whether RADIOHEART will attract as much attention outside of these cities, I couldn't say, but there's appeal here for anyone interested in alternative music and radio, particularly in the transition from analog to digital. Just like record stores and music magazines, many community-oriented stations, like Rev 105, have fallen by the wayside over the years, but KEXP has kept plugging away through thick and thin--I left during an especially thin time.
Fittingly, the film is overflowing with music from local acts, like KEXP faves Mudhoney and Deep Sea Diver, post-punk progenitors Television and Suicide, and even Prince himself, represented by "Irresistible Bitch," a 1982 dance floor-filler Kevin played in public before anyone else. Props to music supervisor Mike Turner who secured over two dozen songs, not counting Moby's instrumental tracks.
A cynic might say that the film plays like an extended promo reel for the man and the station, and they wouldn't be wrong, but I'm not so sure that's a bad thing, not least when the central subject is anything but cynical.
The Stranger's SIFF review also notes that there's no mention of streaming's less advantageous effects. Fair point. I believe that that's outside the scope of the profile, but it isn't a small thing--especially to your average musician.
To his credit, Kevin appears to have had the best of intentions in focusing on access. I don't think he could have predicted the damage Spotify would inflict--not least its $700m investment in AI-powered drone weaponry.
Right: Kevin with a record I added in 1991 (that's my writing in the upper right)
At heart--pun intended--the co-directors have made a film about someone with whom you'll enjoy spending time, especially if you share Kevin's interests. Beyond the candid interviews with their subject and those who know him best, they've assembled countless photographs, personal snapshots, posters, promo spots, television segments--some from my employer, KCTS 9/Cascade PBS--and even entries from Kevin's journals.
My attraction to KCMU in the first place was rooted in the belief that every kind of music was valid, and not just the obvious alt-rock suspects (KCMU had already transitioned from college to public by the time I got there).
Kevin has brought that belief with him everywhere he's gone--from Minneapolis to Seattle to Reykjavik--and that's absolutely worth celebrating, so thanks to Kevin Cole for keeping the faith for over 50 years, and to Pete Hilgendorf and Andrew Franks for honoring that passion with such care.
Click here for 2026 Dispatch #1, here for #2, and here for #3, and here for #5.
RADIOHEART: The Drive and Times of DJ Kevin Cole plays Tues, May 12, 6:30pm; Fri, May 15, 3:30pm; and Sun, May 17, 8pm at the Uptown. Pete Hilgendorf, Andrew Franks, Producer Rebecca Staffel, and Kevin Cole scheduled to attend. Images: KEXP (Kevin by Charina Pitzel and on RSD 2015), Radioheart stills and screen shots (Kevin in B&W, with Shawn, and with crazy hair), and Kurt Schlosser / GeekWire (Kevin in the racks).
(Mia Moore and Heather Ballish, USA, 2026, 99 minutes)
I've never seen myself truly represented on screen. I've never seen a trans woman who's allowed to go on a journey that's informed by her transness but not obsessed with her transness… The kind of film I needed when I was closeted and alone. The kind of film I needed when I didn't even know what I was.--Mia Moore in her Indiegogo pitch
Lilly Wachowski, most recently of 2021's The Matrix Resurrections, executive produced this crowd-funded sci-fi romantic drama about Agatha (co-director Mia Moore, who appeared in Vera Drew's The People's Joker), a punky, smalltown trans woman who was stuck in a time loop for 10 years.
If Moore never pushes the central metaphor too hard, the time loop appears to represent time Agatha wasn't truly trans; time she wasn't fully herself.
When the loop comes to an end, however, she has no idea how to kickstart her life--or how to prevent something like it from happening again. She just knows she wants to spend it with petite Australian-born singer Tess (Aria Taylor), with whom she grew up in Moore's native Aberdeen, Washington–back when she knew she liked girls even if she hadn't transitioned yet.
They love each other, but find it easier to be friends than lovers to the extent that Tess gets engaged to Jason (rising Seattle actor Jon Meggison), which pleases her judgmental mother (Nicole Spacek), who never liked Agatha. There also appears to be an unpoken class divide between the two.
Granted, it's possible some of these things are in Agatha's head, since she's pretty confused, not so much about her trans identity, but about most everything else.
A predilection for drinking whiskey and smoking pot isn't helping, though she doesn't have anyone or anything else to whom to turn, except for Tess. If the relationship between the women is well established, a few details about how they earn their keep would have been welcome.
Moore and Taylor have plenty of chemistry, though Agatha's heart-to-heart with Naomi (British actress Abigail Thorn), a trans record store worker more settled in her life, provides the most affecting moment in the film. In the end, though, Again Again is no tragedy, and the ending suggests that Agatha may be ready to plunge full-bore into the future.
After at least 12 years in Aberdeen, Mia Moore now calls Los Angeles home, but her first full-length feature is a local film through and through and will, ideally, encourage more trans stories rooted in the Pacific Northwest.
I'm not sure how Wachowski came aboard, but it may have something to do with a statement Moore made to Pink News in 2023: "I really respect queer indie cinema from the 1990s and 2000s, especially lesbian films, where it's like, they're lesbians but it's a heist movie." (Bound, anyone?) "Sometimes," she concludes, "we get to be goofy little critters stuck in a time loop."
Click here for 2026 Dispatch #1, here for #2, here for #4, and here for #5.
Again Again plays on Mon, May 11, at 6:30pm, Tues, May 12, at 3pm, and Fri, May 15, at 8pm. All at the Uptown. Mia Moore, Producer Cliff Noonan, and Exec Producer Ian Schrank scheduled to attend. Images from The Daily World (Mia Moore/Mia Moore Marchant) and SIFF (Moore and Aria Taylor).
CASE 137 / Dossier 137 (Dominik Moll, France, 2025, 115 minutes)
Case 137, French filmmaker Dominik Moll's second fact-based procedural in a row, represents the director--in collaboration with co-writer Gilles Marchand--at the top of his game.
His César Award-winning docudramaThe Night of the 12th was terrific, but this penetrating look at modern-day policing proves even more gripping, thanks in large part to César winner Léa Drucker's tough, yet tender performance as a single mother, daughter, and internal affairs investigator doing her best under unbelievably difficult circumstances (Drucker last appeared on Seattle screens in Catherine Breillat's Last Summer).
Unexpected bonus: Case 137 is a first-rate cat film. Highly recommended.
Argentinian filmmaker Lucio Castro's character study centers on Adnan (Laith Khalifeh), a handsome grad student open to new sexual experiences.
In the title chapter, he spends a summer internship at a Williamsburg art gallery. After dark, he frequents a cruising park until he clicks with Yariel (Joel Isaac), a delivery driver with limited English who proves poetic in Spanish. Connection established, things take an unexpected turn.
In other chapters, he enjoys upstate New York adventures with septuagenarian artist Sal (Ezriel Kornel) who creates erotic gay tapestries, and sexually-challenged lover Iggie (Matthew Risch). In the final chapter, Adnan finds a different kind of release. Castro's droll, sexually frank approach recalls Misericordia's Alain Guiraudie with more wonder, less menace.
I found this interview with the filmmaker particularly illuminating.
FRANZ (Agnieszka Holland, 2025, Czech Republic/Poland, 127 minutes)
A conventional biopic wouldn't suit the unconventional Franz Kafka, so Agnieszka Holland (Green Border, SIFF 2024) entwines narrative with nonfiction in a film as much about a Jewish family as a writer's career.
In the present, she explores the way Czechoslavakia has fetishized Kafka in contrast with his family's struggles, his complications with women, the illness that claimed him, and the persecution that devastated his survivors.
It isn't a happy story by any means, but Holland's multi-faceted method in concert with Idan Weiss's full-bodied performance honors a bizarre and brilliant artist who peeled back the layers of polite society to reveal the venality underpinning humanity--though quite entertainingly so!
Franz plays Sun, May 10, 5pm at SIFF Cinema Downtown.
Click here for 2026 Dispatch #1, here for #3, here for #4, and here for #5.
Dates and times subject to change. Please see the festival site for the most up-to-date information. Images from Rotten Tomatoes (Léa Drucker in Case 137) and the IMDb (Laith Khalifeh and Matthew Risch in Drunken Noodles).
The 52nd edition of the Seattle International Film Festival begins on May 7 with writer/director Boots Riley's second feature, I Love Boosters, and ends with actor/director Olivia Wilde's third, The Invite, on May 17. My 2026 coverage begins with Mārama, one of the highlights of this year's lineup.
MARAMA
(Taratoa Stappard, New Zealand/UK, 2026, 89 minutes)
The lingering effects of colonialism take the form of terrifying visions in New Zealand filmmaker Taratoa Stappard's assured Gothic horror Mārama.
Stappard, who lives and works in London, begins in 1859 as Mary Stevens (Ariāna Osborne, who is of Ngaāti Mutunga and Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi descent), a 24-year-old Māori woman raised by a white family, arrives in Whitby, North Yorkshire from Wellington, where a surly coachman drops her off miles from the home of Thomas Boyd, a mystery man who reached out to her, paid for her trip, and promised to tell her about her birth parents.
The coachman warns that the path is steep, but doesn't offer to help her in any way, a sign that she isn't welcome as a woman, a non-white, and a foreigner. Mary is on her own with bulky luggage until Peggy (Jamaican-Scottish actress Umi Myers), a servant, arrives in a coach to bring her to Hawkser Manor, home of retired whaler Nathaniel Cole (an avuncular Toby Stephens), to rest for the night. They appear to have anticipated her visit.
Mary plans to leave the next day until Nathaniel, a widower, informs her that Thomas has died, and offers her a job as governess for his bright, inquisitive nine-year-old granddaughter, Anne (Evelyn Towersey).
The look on Mary's face suggests that she knows to question anything that comes out of a white man's mouth (Osborne says a lot without words). It's convenient that Thomas died during her 73-day trip, and that Nathaniel also grew up without parents. Plus, he's exceptionally eager to win her favor, claiming that he often hired Māori men to work on his ships and that he speaks the language. He even built a model Māori wharenui on his grounds.
Mary has no other option, though she senses that something isn't quite right with this picture, which Stappard indicates through the way seemingly innocuous moments–glances in mirrors, the touch of hands, the very sight of the wharenui–send a chill down her spine for reasons she can't explain.
The eerie sounds of tapping metal or rattling glass accompany these moments, leading to visions which grow more detailed each time they occur. In some, Māori women attempt to communicate with her. In others, her throat appears slashed as if a murdered woman's spirit has possessed her.
As Mary gets to know Anne, she finds that the girl also speaks Māori and has a similar birthmark on her arm, hints that her mother may have been Māori or that they may be related. Anne is only a child, but she's the closest thing Mary has to a confidant. Peggy, who lacks her educational advantages, resents her privilege, and Nathaniel's friends and associates creep her out, especially when they join together in a grotesque pageant to celebrate the birthday of the great white hunter.
Then, Nathaniel tells her about a woman from his past, and everything starts to make sense--and not in a good way--but Mary is resourceful and resolute, and she won't rest until she puts all of the pieces together.
In that sense, she recalls the Second Mrs. de Winter in Daphne Du Maurier's novel Rebecca--and Hitchcock's adaptation with Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier--who becomes a de facto detective in order to determine the truth about her secretive husband's late wife and his hostile housekeeper.
Right: Joan Fontaine and Judith Anderson in Hitchcock's 1940 Rebecca
Unlike Mrs. de Winter, though--who lacks a first name--Mary is no shrinking violet. As the amateur theatrical comes to an end, she lets Nathaniel's guests know exactly how she feels. In Māori, of course, which most of them don't speak, but it's the first sign that her employer may not hold as many cards as he thinks he does.
For most of the film's run time, Mary keeps a tight lid on her emotions, but after her outburst, all bets are off. To Stephens' credit, he doesn't overplay his hand, possibly because Nathaniel doesn't see himself as a villain. He may value Māori culture, but he doesn't exactly value Māori people, other than as a means to an end. He can collect their art and speak their language, but they exist to serve his whims, and in the end: they're pretty expendable.
Stappard's directorial debut, the first in a proposed trilogy of Gothic horror stories, also brings the Victorian-era novels of the Brontë sisters to mind--particularly Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights--through the isolated setting, the severe costumes, the foreboding atmosphere, and the sort of handsome, brooding man who has convinced himself he knows everything there is to know about women. At his peril.
It's no surprise then when Mary finds her inner strength, since she never comes across as a victim, and since Stappard indicates that a showdown looms on the horizon with each slippery word Nathaniel utters and each startling vision that rattles Mary's equilibrium, but it's still supremely satisfying when she takes control of an impossible situation, not least since Ariāna Osborne's fury could melt the icecaps (like her father, television presenter Glen Osborne, she's a former rugby player).
Even for those who don't normally gravitate toward Gothic horror, Mārama is absolutely worth it just to see one woman right several generations' worth of wrongs with the sheer force of her will. If only it worked that way in real life.
Click here for 2026 Dispatch #2, here for #3, here for #4, and here for #5.
For Crypticon this year, I moderated the panels on 1976 horror and 1986 horror. Thanks to the panelists for their great contributions, in addition to anyone who attended or suggested titles. If you see any key films missing, please feel free to let me know.
Due to the timing of the 1986 panel, I missed Tony Kay's interview with Adrienne Barbeau, an actress of whom I've been fond since her days on '70s sitcom Maude; our panel was fun, but that was still a bummer.
In alphabetical order, plus directors, notable cast, and a few notes. If I watched the film online, I've noted the streaming service in brackets.
THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF 1976 HORROR
Panelists: Daniel Gildark, Kennedy Rainer, and Becky Sayers
A-B
Alice, Sweet Alice (Alfred Sole) [Tubi]
Notable cast: Brooke Shields
Assault on Precinct 13 (John Carpenter)
Baby Rosemary (John Hayes)
Bestialità / Dog Lay Afternoon (Peter Skerl)
Blood Sucking Freaks (Joel M. Reed) [Tubi]
Burnt Offerings (Dan Curtis)[Tubi]
Notable cast: Bette Davis, Oliver Reed, Karen Black
Notable cast: Tony Lo Bianco, Silvia Sydney, Richard Lynch
The Grim Reaper (Ron Ormond)
Grizzly (William Girdler)
H-M
House of Mortal Sin (Pete Walker)
The House with Laughing Windows / La Casa Dalle Finestre che Ridono
(Pupi Avati) [Internet Archive]
J.D.'s Revenge (Arthur Marks)
Notable cast: Louis Gossett, Jr., Glynn Turman
The Legend of the Wolf Woman / Werewolf Woman (Rino Di Silvestro)
The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (Nicolas Gessner) [Tubi]
Notable cast: Jodie Foster, Martin Sheen
Mako: The Jaws of Death (William Grefé)
Massacre at Central High (Rene Dalder) [Tubi]
Notable cast: Andrew Stephens, Robert Carradine
O-S
The Omen (Richard Donner)
Notable cast: Gregory Peck, Lee Remick
Las Poquianchis (Felipe Cazals)
Satan's Black Wedding (Nick Millard)
Schizo (Pete Walker)
Squirm (Jeff Leiberman) [Tubi]
T-W
The Tenant (Roman Polanski)
Notable cast: Isabelle Adjani
To the Devil a Daughter (Peter Sykes) [Peacock]
Notable cast: Christopher Lee, Nastassja Kinski
The Town that Dreaded Sundown (Charles B. Pierce)
Who Can Kill a Child? / ¿Quién Puede Matar a un Niño?
(Chicho Ibáñez Serrador) [Prime]
The Witch Who Came from the Sea (Matt Cimber)
I didn't do any crowd-sourcing for the list above, but I did for the list below. I also found Kier-La Janisse's House of Psychotic Women helpful (I have the 2022 expanded edition). It's how I discovered the Polish film I Like Bats (Lubię Nietoperze), which I highly recommend to anyone looking for a funny, sexy, quasi-feminist take on the vampire myth. Janisse also included the film in her Severin boxed set House of Psychotic Women: Rarities Collection.
I follow a number of film critics on Bluesky, and Odie Henderson and Norm Wilner were both so enthusiastic about Night of the Creeps, that when I put out a call for 1986 horror recommendations, they shared their excellent reviews. Click their names for more. Sadly, I also missed the interview with star Tom Atkins, who is perfection in the film, because I was on the Pets in Horror panel. Granted, that was a fun one, too, and you can't do it all.
THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF 1986 HORROR
Panelists: Byron C. Miller, Sara Michelle Fetters, Kennedy Rainer, and Bri Cummings
A-B
Aliens (James Cameron)
Notable cast: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn
America 3000 (David Engelbach)
April Fools Day (Fred Walton) [Pluto]
Big Trouble in Little China (John Carpenter)
Notable cast: Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall, James Hong
Black Roses (John Fasano)
Blue Velvet (David Lynch)
Notable cast: Kyle MacLachlan, Laura Dern, Isabella Rossellini
C-D
Chopping Mall (Jim Wynorski)
Notable cast: Barbara Crampton, Mary Woronov and Paul Bartel, Dick Miller
The Clan of the Cave Bear (Michael Chapman)
Class of Nuke 'Em High (Richard W. Haines, Lloyd Kaufman)
Cobra (George P. Cosmatos)
Notable cast: Sylvester Stallone
Crawlspace (David Schmoeller)
Notable cast: Klaus Kinski
Crimewave (Sam Raimi)
Critters (Stephen Herek)[Tubi]
Notable cast: Dee Wallace, Billy Green Bush, Scott Grimes
Dead End Drive-In (Brian Trenchard-Smith)
Deadly Friend (Wes Craven)
Deadtime Stories (Jeffrey Delman)
Demons 2 (Lamberto Bava)
Dolls (Stuart Gordon)
E-G
Escapes (David Steensland)
Extremities (Robert M. Young)
F/X (Robert Mandel)
Fair Game (Mario Andreacchio)
The Fly (David Cronenberg)
Notable cast: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis
From Beyond (Stuart Gordon)
Notable cast: Barbara Crampton, Jeffrey Combs
The Golden Child (Michael Ritchie)
Gothic (Ken Russell)
Notable cast: Gabriel Byrne, Julian Sands, Natasha Richardson
A BODY TO LIVE IN (Angelo Madsen, USA, 2026, 88 minutes)
The human body is an amazing thing. It does a lot, and it can take a lot. To quote those Timex television commercials of yesteryear, "It takes a licking, and keeps on ticking."
Filmmaker and multi-disciplinary artist Angelo Madsen's central subject, Fakir Musafar, pulled, poked, prodded, pierced, and otherwise treated his body like clay or putty. Something to re-make/re-model. A toy. And a sacred object. But the former Roland Loomis wasn't simply trying to shock or to find sexual release–well, not completely–but to open his consciousness.
In the 1980s, the father of Modern Primitives--a catchall term for body modification–would reach a wider audience when RE/Search published the influential book Modern Primitives: Tattoo, Piercing, Scarification. In 1989, Seattle's Center on Contemporary Art mounted a popular exhibit inspired by the book (to quote LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy, "I was there!").
Fakir provided this filmmaker and those authors with ample material since he documented his many and varied body mods, and his archive at UC Berkeley--my late father's employer--includes 13,400 photographs and 122 video files. Fittingly, Madsen avoids talking heads in favor of artfully-composed still images and hand-painted 16mm film along with evocative music and audio excerpts from interviews, creating an oral history effect.
I couldn't say whether Fakir's remarkable B&W images had an impact on transgressive photographers Robert Mapplethorpe or Joel-Peter Witkin, but it wouldn't surprise me. I do know for sure that his interest in corsetry inspired Mr. Pearl, corsetiere to the stars.
In his prime, Fakir also made talk show appearances where he alarmed normie audiences, while taking the opportunity to explain his practice in an unpretentious, matter-of-fact, midwestern dialect. It probably didn't hurt that the part-time poet had a master's in creative writing from San Francisco State University.
When dressed in a suit and a tie, Fakir looked like your average advertising executive with his open face, close-set eyes, neat hair, and untrendy spectacles--and he did, in fact, work in that field for several years.
From an early age, though, Fakir was fascinated by the strange. In rural South Dakota in the 1940s, that meant circus freaks and images from the pages of National Geographic magazine. He found these exotic people more relatable than his peers, though he would find his tribe when he moved to San Francisco after the Korean War. For a time, that tribe included Anton LaVey, founder of the Church of Satan, who he knew best as a musician.
Madsen spoke to others who worked with or took inspiration from Fakir, like Modern Primitives coauthor V. Vale, body piercer Jim Ward, adult film performer Annie Sprinkle, and Fakir's wife, BDSM practitioner Cléo Dubois, who rejected her mother's Nazi ideology as a young woman, fled France, and ended up in the City by the Bay where she too would find her tribe.
Fakir could handle most everything he did to his body. AIDS, however, would decimate his community in the 1980s (though he identified as gay at a perilous time, he emerged unscathed from the worst of the epidemic). He also faced accusations of cultural appropriation, which he did--or did not--handle well. Madsen leaves it up to viewers to decide. Fakir never expected his Arabic stage name to stick, for instance, but it did.
He also claimed that he learned about the Sun Dance, a Native American ceremony that can involve ritual piercing, while growing up on a Sioux Reservation, which is probably true, but it doesn't change the fact that he was a white man shaping a sacred indigenous rite to his own purposes.
I'm reminded of the Richard Harris western, A Man Called Horse, in which the Sioux abduct and eventually initiate a British man in a similar manner. Hard to believe the film was so popular that it spawned two sequels–and encouraged my high school history teacher to screen it in class (if given a choice, I would've preferred Arthur Penn's more playful Little Big Man).
For Fakir, who lived a full life by any standard, time ran out in 2018. He had made it to 87, seemingly none-too-worse for wear.
Madsen doesn't go into detail about his precautions around piercing and other potentially risky procedures, but it's clear that he took care, and remained as active as possible until lung cancer took its toll.
Fakir did not fear death, though, because he had been preparing for it his whole life. His body was spent, and now he could become pure spirit.
Madsen doesn't answer every question about the man, but he honors his practice and presents it from his thoughtful and, yes, loving perspective.
5/2/26 update: The film will screen today as planned, but the in-person Q&A was cancelled as the director won't be able to make it to Seattle.
Coverage of the Seattle International Film Festival and year-round art house programming in the Pacific Northwest.
Kathy Fennessy is former president of Seattle Film Critics Society, a Northwest Film Forum board member, and a Tomatometer-approved critic. She writes or has written for Amazon, Minneapolis's City Pages, Resonance, Rock and Roll Globe, Seattle Sound, and The Stranger.
